Bright Spots in India’s Emerging Museum Landscape

It’s been a truism of India’s art market that the country’s museum infrastructure is greatly lacking despite a rich history of cultural production.

India’s history and culture are mindbogglingly rich and diverse, but many of its 800-odd museums tend to follow a standard template: a tiny percentage of works on display, often with little or no context provided for visitors to really appreciate them. As a result, barring a few exceptions, exhibitions tend to elicit a very tepid response from local communities, even in cultural centres like Delhi and Mumbai.

Quartz’s Maria Thomas says that is beginning to change with new approaches to overlooked historical events in India’s history and attempts to appeal to Indians’ interest in their own popular culture.